I miss Century... anyone else?

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Dosing

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I decided I needed a drastic downsizing of my collection, and was just looking at a rifle I realised I have had about 30 years. In this case its an M95, in 8X56R, that was a staggering 49.95$ back then, but that was still a reasonable chunk of change, so I am not heading down that road. But damn, when you could buy Mosins, Steyrs, FAMAS bullpups, FALs, MAS and Mausers up the yingyang, and all for reasonable prices. I mean when you could buy a crappy old enfield with a wire wrap, and a Research Armaments 50BMG from the same place, oh, and they answered the phone, and did special orders, just for thte asking (like my Centurion in 300wm specifically on a Winchester action), damn I miss them.:(
 
Used to read thier classifieds untill they got very dog eared many a good dream was hatched . They may have been reasonably priced back then but were still out of my poor rang for a young lad of ten or so . Dreams of were they had been all there great battles fueled many Boyhood desires ( still do !)
 
I got their catalog around 1990-'95 but I was paying off a house at the time and couldn't take advantage of the many cool rifles I wanted.

Years later a friend gave me a Centurion 300 Winchester magnum made on a P14 receiver which was one I had admired in the catalog.

I also bought a barreled receiver for a MN for $12.95, a stock from a 44 MN carbine for another $12.95 and with a hacksaw made my own scout rifle. I won't tell you what the B-Square mount and pistol scope cost me, but be assured they cost many times what the rifle did. Killed bears with that gun too.
 
How about International Firearms Company. Montreal Quebec ?....I still have their Canadian Catalogue 95 in pristine condition....I take a look at it every once in a while and cry little. The toys that we were able to buy then all prohibit today
 
I used to drool over those catelogues in the 80's, but alas my father thought that guns started and ended with the Winchester 94.
 
I used to deal with Districorp as a dealer, not as many choices as Century, but always did great on pricing and delivery. I kinda wish I hadnt given all my FIE/Districorp and Century catalogues to a collector in the US now.
 
wolf19534 said:
How about International Firearms Company. Montreal Quebec ?....I still have their Canadian Catalogue 95 in pristine condition....I take a look at it every once in a while and cry little. The toys that we were able to buy then all prohibit today
Click to expand...

Same company as Century, just Canada based
 
When I had my business, I was able to visit their warehouse on occasion. Fascinating place. Think of a large arena, with industrial shelving two stories high...
The main space was divided. One end was filled with items cleared into Canada, the other with items held in bond, which could be moved into the US through the St. Albans facility. The in bond end was much larger. Think over 150,000 guns in one building.
There was a showroom with specimens of all the items available through the catalogue. And there were also the one-off and limited inventory items not advertised. On one visit, I bought an Anschutz 54 Super Match and a Mauser Type A sporting rifle which had come from Bangladesh along with A1A FN rifles. Ever see a Third World surplus Anschutz?
 
SIR was also good feeding a budding gun nutz cravings.The Herter's catalog also kept me awake at night.
 
I bought so much stuff there on each visit I had to install heavy duty springs in the back of my Crown Victoria.

I recall a rack of FR-8s for $65 each. I bought the one with the tightest headspace. Should have bought the entire rack.
 
I could not count the amount of strange (cheap) guns from them, and the rest, Century Internationl has a office still in Canada, just not all the neat stuff,
like unmolested FN-Fals ,L1A1's at about 100.oo, and lots of nice euro target guns.
I remember when they closed the warehouse because of C68, they sold restricted / small odd ball stuff by the pound, 10 or 15.oo I think??, you got whatever was in the box, lots of star model F 22 pistols, 4", that I sold for 50.oo, after I made mags, and grips., a couple baby brownings as well, and other brands
 
Oh dear! Back in the late 80's and early 90's, three of us went together on a dealer licence. We bought a lot of good stuff from Century, Districorp, Marstar, Lever Arms, Higginson, etc. Ammo -crates of it. We ended up with a boatload of nice old rifles, and lots of nice surplus ammunition. I used to be able to order handguns from a wholesaler in Seattle, I think it was. They would arrive in the mail, never a problem. I ordered guns from WSS in Calgary, always got great service. We didn't make any money, but we sure ended up with a pile of guns and ammo!

The good old days. Cops used to come out to the shop to see what had come in recently, and to try stuff out. I always enjoyed dealing with Alan Lever and Thomas Higginson. They were such gentlemen to deal with. It was always a good day when the shipments would arrive! The smell of the old grease, mmmm!
 
marshall said:
lots of star model F 22 pistols, 4", that I sold for 50.oo, after I made mags, and grips., a couple baby brownings as well, and other brands
Click to expand...

I think it was the last year or two they took to selling deactivated pistols in lucite, for next to nothing.
 
Scan0001.jpg

from 1990
 
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